Polanski's Ghost Transfixes Critics
He was unable to attend the launch, but it seems that troubled director Roman Polanski has a hit on his hands with new film The Ghost Writer. After the premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on February 12th, critics were quick to tip the film as a potential award-winner. What's more, there seems to be a consensus that it's one of his most gripping films to date.
"This is his most purely enjoyable picture for years, a Hitchcockian nightmare with a persistent, stomach-turning sense of disquiet, brought off with confidence and dash," says Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. His views were echoed by many international voices, including Polanski's compatriots, the Poles. "The Ghost Writer is perfectly realised, superb cinema," concluded leading critic Barbara Hollender in Rzeczpospolita.
The film, adapted from Robert Harris's novel The Ghost, tells the story of a former British Prime Minister (Pierce Brosnan) who attempts to write his memoirs with the aid of a ghost writer (Ewan McGregor). Given that Brosnan's character has been involved in some fairly sinister political machinations, the scribe soon finds he's got rather more than he's bargained for.
Polanski shot the film with acclaimed Polish cinematographer Pawel Edelman. Nevertheless, the director, who finished the post production under house arrest in Switzerland, is currently facing deportation to the US for evading justice 30 years ago.
The Ghost Writer opens in Krakow on 19th February